Baghdad - Pro-US Iraqi sources quote US intelligence officials as saying that US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the US military personnel that a major part of them will be with their families by Christmas. Rumsfeld, who visited Baghdad last week, said at another meeting there that his country is interested in three major post-partial withdrawal issues: the Iraqi government and whether it will be able to resist; oil resources and how to preserve them; the Iraqi Army and whether it will be able to deal with the situation. Those officials also quote Rumsfeld as saying that US oil companies will risk major damages in Iraq if “we do not know how to preserve the Iraqi regime”. He added in this context that the Pentagon is studying a “very sensitive” plan to secure the Iraqi oil sector.
Iraq Information Report - August 3, 2005 - 6th Year, № 6/687